Full cost for building the vessel was around $500,000, but crowdfunding a portion of it allowed officials at the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration (GFOE), a nonprofit engineering group, to spur public interest. In a similar vein, they named the completed ROV “Yogi” in honor of the famous fictional comic book character devised by Hanna-Barbera who gets into trouble at Yellowstone National Park.

But the real value of ROV Yogi will be the insights that it can provide to scientists looking to learn more about Yellowstone Lake, the bottom of which is full of hydrothermal vents.

Just like other areas in the park that have vents, the vents in Yellowstone Lake are important to study because of the unique microbial life they likely contain. And since the water temperatures near the vents are close to that of the human body, there is the possibility that the microbes could have applications to human health.

To tap that potential, Yogi is equipped with a high-definition video camera and sampling capabilities that foundation explorers have used in past research expeditions in oceans. It is capable of diving up to 1,500 meters using a mix of thrusters and navigation gear.